Scotland's Possibilities for Remaining in EU After a Brexit

Sensible Scots are avowedly Europhile. What to do if the rest of the UK plumbs for Brexit?

The Scottish National Party is interesting insofar as it is not a hardcore anti-foreigner, ultra-nationalist party. While it is rather antsy about surrendering too much power to London, it is much less about doing so to Brussels. Like the Economist poll tracker results above show, Scotland is avowedly in favor of staying in the common market. In no small part, this is due to the Scots actually being grateful about having the EU as a market for its energy exports unlike their sometimes ungrateful English and Welsh counterparts, but I will say no more.

This Europhile stance, of course, provides for some interesting technicalities should the UK as a whole vote for leaving the EU. Just two years ago, of course, the Scottish electorate decided to stay within the United Kingdom. However, it now faces yet another possible round of reconsideration: the premise then was the UK was in the EU. If that's gone, how can Scotland stay in the EU? It will obviously have to ditch the UK and become an independent nation within the EU:

The Scottish Government are set to negotiate directly with Brussels to stay in the EU if the rest of Britain votes to leave. [SNP leader] Nicola Sturgeon, spooked by polls which show the UK heading for the exit door, ordered officials in the SNP administration to draw up plans...

Swift talks with Brussels would aim to keep Scotland’s place in the EU while the rest of the UK negotiates a way out. A
second independence referendum could then be called, knowing Scotland
would retain its place rather than have to rejoin if the UK quits. It
would create constitutional turmoil, with no clear precedent to follow.
Academics have pointed to Greenland, which is an autonomous part of the
Danish EU state but not a full member of the union.

The technicalities are long and arduous--first, of convincing the EU they want to remain and, second, of seceding from the UK when the referendum result staying in is still fresh in memory:

At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Sturgeon suggested she was planning for all eventualities. She
said: “If Scotland faces the prospect of being taken out of the EU
against our democratic will, all options to protect our relationship
with Europe and the EU will be considered.” Sturgeon’s
predecessor Alex Salmond has also urged a quick move to keep Scotland in
Europe. He said: “Whatever chaos envelopes Westminster, I anticipate
the First Minister will lead Scotland in that direction.”

Imagine that: unabashedly pro-EU Britons. They may become just pro-EU Scots after a while, but the conviction is clear.